KUNG FU PANDA 4's Trailer Reveals Quest For A New Dragon Warrior But The Furious Five Are Conspicuously Absent

KUNG FU PANDA 4's Trailer Reveals Quest For A New Dragon Warrior But The Furious Five Are Conspicuously Absent

Jack Black is back as Po in another Kung Fu Panda animated feature film. In this new adventure, Po's time as the Dragon Warrior is over and he must find his successor.

By MarkJulian - Dec 14, 2023 08:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features
Source: Toonado.com

It appears that Po's days as the fabled Dragon Warrior hero are coming to an end in the fourth installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which began with Jack Black's character Po learning that he was destined to become the legendary warrior back in 2008.

Viola Davis joins the cast of the franchise as Chameleon, a formidable sorceress who can change her shape. She appears to be trying to steal the spirit of renowned martial artists from the past, such as Ian McShane's Tai Lung, the main enemy in the first movie. Chameleon will also be looking to steal the powers of other deceased Kung Fu Panda villains, as well.

Conspicuously absent from the trailer are The Furious Five- Angelina Jolie's Master Tigress, Seth Rogen's Master Mantis, Lucy Liu's  Master Viper, David Cross' Master Crane and Jackie Chan's Master Monkey.

Instead, joining the film as Po's new companion is Awkwafina as the fox thief, Zhen.

However, the outcry over the lack of the Furious Five's presence in the trailer was so loud that Dreamworks quickly confirmed that they would appear in the film.

Speaking to Collider, director Mike Mitchell stated, "They make an appearance, I'll tell you that much. But to be fair, Po is leaving the Valley of Peace and he's going on a huge adventure to this giant city…"

Check out the first Kung Fu Panda 4 trailer from Dreamworks Animation, below. The film will hit North American theaters on March 8, 2024.

Image

The film features the voice talent of returning stars Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman as Kung Fu master, Shifu; James Hong (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as Po’s adoptive father, Mr. Ping; Academy Award nominee Bryan Cranston as Po’s birth father, Li, and Emmy Award nominee Ian McShane as Tai Lung, Shifu’s former student and arch-nemesis. Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) joins the ensemble as a new character, Han, the leader of the Den of Thieves. 
 
Kung Fu Panda 4
is directed by Mike Mitchell (DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, Shrek Forever After) and produced by Rebecca Huntley (DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys). The film’s co-director is Stephanie Ma Stine (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power).

Kung Fu Panda 4 Official Synopsis

This spring, for the first time in almost a decade, comedy icon Jack Black returns to his role as Po, the world’s most unlikely kung fu master, with a hilarious, butt-kicking new chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved action-comedy franchise: Kung Fu Panda 4.

After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and mad martial arts skills, Po, the Dragon Warrior (Golden Globe nominee Jack Black), is called upon by destiny to … give it a rest already. More specifically, he’s tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace.

That poses a couple of obvious problems. First, Po knows as much about spiritual leadership as he does about the paleo diet, and second, he needs to quickly find and train a new Dragon Warrior before he can assume his new lofty position.

Even worse, there’s been a recent sighting of a wicked, powerful sorceress, Chameleon (Oscar® winner Viola Davis), a tiny lizard who can shapeshift into any creature, large or small. And Chameleon has her greedy, beady little eyes on Po’s Staff of Wisdom, which would give her the power to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm.

So, Po’s going to need some help. He finds it (kinda?) in the form of crafty, quick-witted thief Zhen (Golden Globe winner Awkwafina), a corsac fox who really gets under Po’s fur but whose skills will prove invaluable. In their quest to protect the Valley of Peace from Chameleon’s reptilian claws, this comedic odd-couple duo will have to work together. In the process, Po will discover that heroes can be found in the most unexpected places.

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TheloniousJay
TheloniousJay - 12/14/2023, 8:50 AM
Another one, eh?! Welp! Since Disney animation isn't doing so well, the kiddos need something to watch.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/14/2023, 8:56 AM
Awkwafina...



mountainman
mountainman - 12/14/2023, 9:06 AM
Awkwafina? Geez she ruins every movie she is in (besides that one serious one about her family). Her original song in Little Mermaid was by far the worst thing about that movie. She was terrible in Shang Chi. She must have some dirt on some producers or something. There is no other way she keeps getting these roles.
FusionWarrior
FusionWarrior - 12/14/2023, 9:08 AM
SHADOOSH!!!! I'm sure the Furious Five are in the movie somewhere and yes Awkwafina is everywhere in animation nowadays! Also I have no clue if Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight will be referenced?
Scarilian
Scarilian - 12/14/2023, 9:40 AM
@FusionWarrior -
I think if the Furious Five show up it'd create a huge logical inconsistency as Po is not passing the mantle down to Tigress.

Tigress has trained her entire life to be the Dragon Warrior and we've seen three films of development (not including the spin-off series) giving her suitable development to be perfect in the role.

As such, they remove the Furious Five so instead Po can pass the mantle of Dragon Warrior to Awkwafina's character - Zhen.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 12/14/2023, 10:21 AM
@Scarilian - Pretty sure you are right. What an awful choice that would be.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 12/14/2023, 9:11 AM

Dung Poo Panda.

Coming sooner than the studio would like to a streamer near you.

MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 12/14/2023, 9:12 AM
Ive been a big fan of this series, but i have big issues with Awkwafina being the colead in this movie with potentially no Furious Five, which have ALL been seriously underutilized in these movies. Will this be even close to the level of good as the first three:

J0HNS0N
J0HNS0N - 12/14/2023, 9:34 AM
Why won’t they stop putting her in so many movies? …please.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 12/14/2023, 9:35 AM
I don't have faith in this film. It feels like it's going to be another situation of a legacy male character passing on the legacy to a new female character who spends most the film showing why she's superior to him and insults him - in this case Po passing on his mantle as the Dragon Warrior to the fox character Zhen.

Notably if the 'Furious Five' returned the most logical way to handle this legacy storyline would be Po passing the mantle to Tigress who had spent her entire life training for this goal - finally getting to be the Dragon Warrior after having a lot of character growth and showing that she respects Po and others. Tigress is a complex, well developed and likable female character who actually respects Po after growing to understand him over the course of the prior films and we can't have that nowadays because that would be true equality and instead they'll want to portray Po as always making mistakes :L

The nostalgia bait feels like a reinforcement of this, the villains plot is effectively the same as the villain from the third film where they steal the abilities of other characters to become stronger - only this time it's used to do member berries for the prior villains.

I hope I'm wrong, but this trailer and the context of the film gives me cause for concern.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 12/14/2023, 10:23 AM
@Scarilian - Im in agreement on all of your points, but lets be honest. This is a movie for kids. And kids just dont care about ANY of that.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 12/21/2023, 1:25 PM
@Shivermetimbers -

8 Years since Kung Fu Panda 3
13 Years since Kung Fu Panda 2
16 Years since Kung Fu Panda

They should recognize that a majority of the audience will have grown with the franchise. It makes more sense to focus on appealing to your primary audience as opposed to trying to alter your film to appeal to a new audience. In this case my concern is that they'd be trying to appeal to the same age demographic as the first film rather than following the maturity that we saw in Kung Fu Panda 2 and to a lesser extent Kung Fu Panda 3 for example.

Sure, you'll have some kids who just ended up getting into the Kung Fu Panda franchise at a later point, but they really should be aiming for a film that's made to target varying age groups. The trailers for Kung Fu Panda films have been pretty awkward in the past at showing which demographic they appeal to, but it really feels dumbed down compared to the previous installments.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 12/15/2023, 1:07 AM
I would be down for a spinoff focusing on Po's friends, there's potential in it.
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